This is the prepared text of the 2018 Red Mass talk delivered by Terry Walsh, the president and CEO Catholic Charities Hawaii, Jan. 16 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa.
By Terry Walsh
Special to the Hawaii Catholic Herald
“Hope is what drives the hearts of those who depart.”
Pope Francis shared these words recently as he opened the “Share the Journey” migration campaign. He gave an emotional endorsement for the need to build relationships between migrants, refugees and local communities. The “Share the Journey” campaign is a global effort to renew solidarity with migrants and refugees.
This campaign is one based on encounter. I can speak from experience that when one opens their heart to encountering a stranger, smiling at a newcomer, or by getting to know your neighbor, fear can melt away. The distrust and apprehension that may have previously existed is replaced by friendship and connection.
Today, as much as any time in our history, this message of welcome is crucial, as the culture of welcome is under threat. Where would we be as a country if not for its rich history of welcoming immigrants from all over the world? Most of us would not even be here.
My wife wasn’t born in this country. We have seven foster sons who are Sudanese refugees. My mother-in-law is a Vietnamese immigrant. My wife’s aunt is a Vietnamese refugee. My great-great grandparents were immigrants from Ireland. This, in many ways, is a typical American family, made up of a quilt work of different languages, cultures and ethnicities.
In Hawaii, this is more evident than on the mainland. Hawaii’s population is the most diverse in the nation; 75 percent of which is comprised of a mixture of different ethnicities. These citizens are here in Hawaii today because their forbearers were immigrants. In Hawaii, diversity within the ohana is the norm, not the exception.
My journey of working with refugees and immigrants began at Chaminade University of Honolulu, where I majored in Behavioral Science and became interested in learning about other cultures. My interest in immigrants was piqued to an even greater degree when I met my wife’s aunt and heard her harrowing story of escape during the Vietnam war and of how she was resettled as a refugee by Catholic Charities Hawaii. Her story motivated me to serve refugees. After Chaminade, I worked at Washington Intermediate School, as a reading teacher, where many of my students were immigrants, and at Hale Kipa, working with run-away youth from many different backgrounds.
After leaving Hawaii to move back to Michigan, I was hired as a job developer for Refugee Services, a program of Catholic Charities of Lansing, Michigan. As soon as I walked in the office, I knew that this was my calling. I helped refugees from Haiti, Cuba, Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo and Somalia, find work in their new home. I eventually became the Director of Refugee Services.
My ultimate goal during that time was to work with refugees internationally; therefore I applied to become a consultant with the United Nations Refugee Agency — UNHCR. My first deployment was to Kakuma, Kenya, where I interviewed 416 of the so-called “Lost Boys” of Sudan. The Lost Boys have one of the most compelling refugee stories I have encountered. Their story has been well-documented in the media, books and film.
It is estimated that 20,000 young people, mostly boys, escaped violent attacks against their villages in Southern Sudan. In a great exodus, these young people left Sudan for Ethiopia. Shortly after arriving in Ethiopia, they were once again stuck in conflict, finding themselves in the middle of the Civil War in Ethiopia. They again left in haste, back to Sudan, where they had to cross a mighty and deep river, full of crocodiles and a swift current. Many lost their lives. After arriving in Kenya, they were once again attacked from the Northern Sudanese, many of the boys were kidnapped and conscripted to be child soldiers. This time, their mass journey took them across the Southern Border to Kenya, where they found refuge in Kakuma. Kakuma became one of the largest refugee camps in the world, with over 130,000 refugees spread over miles of a desolate, arid landscape.
After the lost boys’ long journey, it is estimated that out of the original 20,000, only 3,000 survived to the end of their nightmare escape.
The heat and dust in Kakuma was stifling. There was a thin line between life and death in the refugee camp. Sometimes I would hear gunshots at night. Once I saw a young man, close to death from malaria, being pushed to the makeshift hospital by his friend in a wheel barrow. The images, sounds, smells and stories from the refugee camps are haunting and will never leave me.
Nevertheless, in all of the desolation, the young men were full of faith, hope and dignity. When I interviewed them, I would ask: “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Without fail, the answers were always ones of high aspirations: Doctor, attorney, pilot, politician or pastor were the most common answers.
I spent three months during the summer of 2000 living at the Refugee Camp in Kakuma. Shortly after I returned to the United States, Refugee Services, where I worked, began resettling the Lost Boys to Lansing. During a Christmas Party for refugees, a friend who oversaw the Refugee Foster Parent Program asked if my wife and I would be interested in being foster parents for a few of the lost boys. We had never considered it before, but we both looked at each other and said “sure, why not?” in unison.
It turned out to be one of the greatest decisions of our lives. What started with three Sudanese brothers 14-16 years old, quickly turned into eventually having seven foster sons from Sudan.
Two of the Lost Boys I met at a social event, who informed me that I interviewed them in the refugee camp. The older brother, 17-year-old Nek, said that I told him, “I will see you in America.” I didn’t remember saying that, and little did I know the plan God had for us, as we ended up welcoming them into our house. Later we would add two more brothers, so what started as a family of four, eventually became 11, with seven foster sons living with us, staggered over several years.
We are happy we made that decision, as we learned much about their culture, and our biological children had the opportunity to have big brothers from another country. I truly believe that we were blessed to welcome these remarkable human beings into our home.
Later I did similar work in Ethiopia and South Africa. I also worked with refugees in Ghana, in West Africa, where my family joined me. Having had the opportunity to work with refugees on both sides of the ocean, and working with the UN vetting refugees from Africa, I learned the full scope of the refugee resettlement program.
With this perspective, I can say with confidence that the vetting process for refugees coming into the U.S. is comprehensive and exhaustive, with refugees going through scores of interviews with several different agencies. The process is actually comprised of at least 20 independent steps with several rounds of background checks. Very few refugees make it all the way through the vetting process, with less than half of one percent of all of the world’s refugees eventually resettled in the U.S.
The most poignant part of my journey was being able to look into the eyes of refugees and immigrants from all over the world and see the reflection of God in their eyes. To learn about another human being from a different culture and realize that they have the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations as me is a profound bonding experience.
My journey continues with my return to Hawaii, which is truly a melting pot of cultures and my work at Catholic Charities Hawaii — where we serve people of all faiths and cultures.
Hawaii is a state that has a rich history of welcoming newcomers. The Catholic Church also has a history of welcoming strangers, as Pope Francis reminded us during his Christmas sermon that Jesus himself was a refugee.
I am proud to lead Catholic Charities Hawaii (CCH), an organization that has embraced the newcomer for over 70 years and I am blessed to work with a group of people who are committed to the mission of CCH:
Rooted in the gospel of Jesus, CCH exists to carry out the social mission of the church by serving the people of Hawaii, regardless of their faith or culture.
We are a community of hope that promotes the dignity of each person by helping others empower themselves. We provide a wide range of social services with compassion and a commitment to excellence. Through our programs and our advocacy for social justice, we lovingly serve all people, especially those with the greatest need.
In the Hawaiian spirit of ohana, we join with parishes, agencies, and community groups. We welcome all people of goodwill to share our mission.
In all our services, decisions, and relationships, we commit to these core values:
- Dignity of Each Person
- Compassion
- Social Justice
- Commitment to Excellence
Catholic Charities Hawaii has an excellent reputation of serving those most in need across our great state. Nevertheless, I like to say that we are the best kept secret in Hawaii. Not everyone is aware of the great work we do as it relates to serving the following groups:
Homeless:
We focus on long term solutions and addressing the core issues of homelessness, not only the symptoms.
We help the homeless help themselves and help folks throughout the spectrum, from the chronically homeless to the family living paycheck to paycheck, where a parent being laid off leads many to finding themselves without a stable home.
Seniors:
As Hawaii braces itself for the oncoming so called “silver tsunami,” where by 2020 more than 25% of Hawaii’s population will be over 60, it’s important that seniors maintain their health and independent living as best as possible.
Catholic Charities Hawaii’s senior programs are meant to assist our kūpuna in several ways: improve health and wellness; reduce isolation through activities that encourage socialization with their peers; and provide educational instruction to improve senior safety and security.
Children and Families:
Today’s children and youth need to feel protected and empowered. Catholic Charities Hawaii offers a number of programs that help children and youth address physical, emotional, and psychological needs through services that focus on building confidence and core values while strengthening families.
Finally, we offer counseling services to anyone in need, from keiki to kupuna.
These are only a few examples of our 30 different programs across the state.
One of the areas that is not as well-known is our Immigration Services.
At Catholic Charities Hawaii, we have a tradition of welcoming refugees and immigrants. Our Immigration Services program provides free citizenship classes, English as a Second Language classes and assistance in navigating the complicated maze of immigration forms and documentation. We employ the only U.S. Department of Justice recognized immigration counselors in the State of Hawaii.
At CCH we empower immigrants to play a significant role in their self-determination. Through our services, we advocate for immigrant rights and we are proud to facilitate the reunification of immigrant families. Family-based immigration has been critical to hundreds of thousands of recent immigrants in Hawaii from the Philippines, China, Mexico, India, and Vietnam.
Catholic Charities Hawaii also has a rich history of resettling refugees. A refugee is defined by the UN as someone having a well-documented fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality or political affiliation.
From the fall of Vietnam in 1975 until 2013, CCH resettled over 1,300 refugees to Hawaii, mostly Vietnamese, but some Laotians, Burmese, Russians and others. Unfortunately, our refugee program closed several years ago due to the high cost of housing and the difficulty that refugees had being able to afford to live here.
Welcoming the stranger, the message that is rooted in the Gospel, is in the DNA of Catholic Charities here and across the country. From our founding by the Maryknoll Sisters and over the last 70 years in Hawaii, CCH has built a rich history of serving those on the fringes of society, often times immigrants and other newcomers to Hawaii.
Without fail, I have found refugees to be hard working, good hearted individuals who want to contribute to their new country. I am grateful I have had the opportunities to meet and work with people all over the world, to encounter the stranger and “share in their journey,” as Pope Francis has challenged all of us to do.
